Military, Trump divide may be widening

America’s chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has offered our country a top-level apology for his appearance during a photo session with President Trump near the White House and a church on June 1.

On Thursday, Army Gen. Mark Milley said, “I should not have been there” in a prerecorded speech at the National Defense University in Washington.

He said his “appearance as part of a group of officials who accompanied Trump at the photo opportunity created a perception of the military involved in domestic politics. As a commissioned uniformed officer, it was a mistake that I have learned from. And I sincerely hope we can all learn from it.”

Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Gen. Milley had both opposed a proposal by Trump to invoke the 1807 Insurrection Act to send active-duty military troops into American cities during the nation-wide protests.

Esper, it was reported, was nearly fired because of his opposition.

The US military has a tradition of remaining an apolitical institution. But the sight of its highest-ranking military officer participating in a photo opportunity at the height of the protests outraged some within the military.

Former senior officers voiced concern. In a letter to the 2020 graduating class of the United States Military Academy, scores of alumni warned that their leaders could fail them.

“Sadly, the government has threatened to use the Army in which you serve as a weapon against fellow Americans engaging in these legitimate protests,” the alumni wrote.

The president often expresses admiration for what he calls “my military,” but has differed with military leaders on a range of issues during his term in office.

Many military leaders disagreed with Trump’s decision to bar transgender people from serving in the military, his decision to abandon longtime US partners in northern Syria and his intervention in the case of a Navy SEAL charged with war crimes leading to the forced resignation of the secretary of the Navy.

Esper, last week, said he didn’t know Trump was planning to hold a photo session at St. John’s Church, across Lafayette Square from the White House. Federal law enforcement officers along with National Guard troops, forcibly moved protesters from the area just before Trump and other officials and relatives walked to the church.

Trump’s former defense secretary Jim Mattis was among those who publicly condemned Trump’s photo opportunity.